Subject

An elegant house with views across countryside. Edward Lear's stockbroker father held the lease 1806 - 1829 so Edward lived here until he was 16. With two storeys and five bays it was not a particularly grand house, probably built in the late 18th century.

During 1835 - 43 (at least) it belonged to a Charles Mann. It became a girl's school and a print exists of it at this time in an advertisement but, disappointingly, this print has not yet found its way onto the web. An inventory also exists of fixtures and fittings dated 1846. The Bowman's Lodge estate was sold in 1884. It was pulled down in Lear's lifetime so perhaps the 1884 sale was the one that preceded its demolition.